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CICP Road Diary: Entry #9 Pre-Test Jitters

So, as savvy readers will note, the title of this blog post implies that I have not taken the CICP test yet.

The reason for this is because I haven’t.

My original plan was to sit and do it on Wednesday, which is to say, yesterday, but as it’s sort of a busy week for the magazine, time for studying, and especially for testing, was scarce. Such is life, but now I plan to take the test tomorrow afternoon, allotting for some studying time beforehand. This is, in some ways, exactly the type of last-minute test-taking procedure that I wanted to avoid, but it largely wasn’t up to me, I’d say, so I’ll make due, but I’m still a tad nervous.

If anything, though, you can look at this as a last minute reminder that while the CICP course deserves as much of your attention as you can muster, you more than likely won’t be capable of offering 100% of your focus, 100% of the time. Important to remember, I’d say, and important to not let it stress you out too.

I’ve studied a bit already, going through the post-tests, as previously mentioned, as well as some of the more complicated things that I, quite literally, had zero experience with before joining the course. I knew very little about theories behind bad debt allowances before taking the class, so that got another run-through. I also was a novice when it came to foreign exchange practices too, so that also got another look.

Through the process of studying, I’m also sort of memorizing the course’s geography, which isn’t exactly the point, I’ll admit, but could come in handy when taking the actual test.

The point of the CICP designation isn’t to signify that the holder can tell you what module came after the Structured Trade Finance module (it’s the Monitoring Trade Loans module) or what module covered pre-export and post-export financing (that would be Cash and Treasury Management: Part Two). It’s to signify the holder’s excellence and expertise in the field of international credit management.

Still, I want to do well, and since it’s an open-book test, I want to spend at least a little bit of time familiarizing myself with the table of contents. Not doing so could eat up some of those precious 255 minutes that I’ll have to complete the test’s 100 multiple choice and 20 short answer questions (in my last post I said I’d have four hours to take the test, but that’s slightly inaccurate; I’ll actually have four hours and 15 minutes).

I should get back to the books though. By this time tomorrow, I’ll either be a proud new CICP, scrounging for an extra $100 in order to schedule a re-test, or, you know, still taking it. That last one’s probably the most likely option, unless I can somehow speed through the test at 4 questions a minute.

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